May 30, 2012

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) -Western powers ordered Tues-day the expulsion of Syriandiplomats as they blamed theHoula massacre squarely onPresident Bashar al-Assad'sregime and warned him thattime was running out.

Russia, which has twicevetoed UN action againstSyria, was pressed to changeits approach to its key MiddleEastern ally with the UnitedStates calling for the atrocityto serve as a "turning point inRussian thinking."

The coordinated envoy ex-pulsions followed mountinginternational outrage over themassacre on Friday in the cen-tral town of Houla, in which atleast 108 people, including 49children, were killed, accord-ing to UN figures.

Australia, Britain, Canada,France, Germany, Italy, Spainand the United States acted inconcert, stepping up the pres-sure on Assad's regime afterthe killings, many of themsummary executions blamedon pro-government militia.

"We hold the Syrian gov-ernment responsible for this

slaughter of innocent lives,"US State Department spokes-woman Victoria Nuland said,informing charge d'affairesZuheir Jabbour that he had 72hours to leave the country.

Jabbour has been the high-est-ranking Syrian official inWashington since the depar-ture of the ambassador, ImadMustapha, last October.

Nuland said the massacrewas "the most unambiguousindictment to date" of Syria'sflagrant UN Security Councilviolations and urged all coun-tries to "condemn the actionsof the Assad regime throughsimilar action."

Bulgaria, the Netherlandsand Switzerland followed suit,while Belgium declared itsSyria ambassador "persona nongrata" but said he could not beexpelled as he was also EUenvoy and there was no una-nimity in the 27-nation bloc.

British Foreign SecretaryWilliam Hague said the expul-sion of the top Syrian diplo-mat in London, charged'affaires Ghassan Dalla, andtwo other envoys would sendout a "stark message."

West expels Syrianenvoys over Houlamassacre

The second PACO (PanAmerican Conference onObesity) conference on obe-sity is scheduled to take placeon Aruba during the 11th tothe 16th of June. Last year 22countries participated. Forthis year already 20 countrieshave confirmed their partici-pation. The conference willhave various lectures, work-shops and individual meet-ings. Last year we can recallthat all the countries signedthe “Aruba Call to Action”document which was pre-sented to the United Nationsas “Methods of the Millen-

nium.”Last year these methods

covered the entire world.This time the focus again ison child obesity.

The United Nations, how-ever, sees the obesitydilemma as a problem ofeach country’s development.All heads of states havebegun making changes intheir management philoso-phy.

The effect of the economyon an ‘over weight’ country,is tied to certain developmentchallenges, health challenges,labor production and educa-tional. During the speeches,they intend on reviewing thechallenges in the hopes thateach country will know howto deal with the challenges inthe form of preventing thisdilemma.

Reportedly, the ArubaMinister of Public Healthwill present the “IBISA” (In-stituto pa Biba Salud y Ac-tivo- The Institute for livinghealthy and active). This is adepartment of the govern-ment which will be workingon the prevention of chronicdeceases. IDEFRE and a fewother departments will fallunder the umbrella of IBISAworking together on promot-ing physical activity and pre-vention in the area of health.

The government hasbegun to work on variousprojects, such as “Scol Salud-abel” (healthy schools), “Ci-clovia,” television and radioprograms, programs with ourhotels, food labeling, etc.Soon IBISA will be inaugu-rating its new “bus di salud”(health bus). This is a buscontaining a clinic wherebody scans, blood samples,and screens for obesity can bedone, and will travel through-out the island.

PACO apparently will besending their top doctors andhealth experts to Aruba andour own local doctors and ex-perts will be introduced to thenewest equipment and meth-ods being used to treat obe-sity and other chronicdeceases.

Continue on pg 2

Second Conference on Obesity(PACO) to be held on Arubain June

Minister of Health Richard

Visser

WASHINGTON (AFP) -Fan-in-chief Barack Obamainvested legendary singersongwriter Bob Dylan Tues-day with America's highestcivilian honor, praising thegritty folk legend's neverending quest for truth.

Dylan joined other hon-orees including former sec-retary of state MadeleineAlbright, John Glenn, thefirst American to orbit Earthand novelist Toni Morrisonto be awarded the Presiden-tial Medal of Freedom.

"By the time he was 23,Bob's voice, with its weight,its unique gravelly power,was redefining not just whatmusic sounded like, but themessage it carried and howit made people feel,"Obama said.

"Today, everybody fromBruce Springsteen to U2owes Bob a debt of grati-tude. "There is not a biggergiant in the history of Amer-ican music. All these yearslater, he's still chasing thatsound, still searching for alittle bit of truth, and I haveto say that I am a really bigfan."

Continue on pg 5

Obama honors'giant' Dylan with

top US honor

2 Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Our focus will be on preven-tion, and in that contextAruba will benefit from thetop experts from organiza-tions like the World HealthOrganization, the Pan Amer-ican Health Organization,

CEPAL, FAO, PAHEF, andCaricom, a total of 10 USUniversities that will be in at-tendance. Also expected are25 science doctors and morethan 20 countries will be inattendance at the upcomingconference. These will be of-

fering lectures and work-shops on various interestingtopics.

Two special courses ofstudy will be offered duringthe week along with 6 differ-ent workshops. These will be

specifically for our own localexperts. The sessions willallow the participation of nomore than 200 persons.

Registration can be madeimmediately by email on thePACO website at:www.paco.aw.

Second Conference onObesity (PACO) to be heldon Aruba in JuneContinued from pg 1

Pictured the ‘Bus Di Salud’

Coffee House was the venue for a lovely cele-bration of the 50th anniversary of Sister Juliet’sservice as a Nun. A group of friends and visitorsgathered to ask God’s blessing on Sister Juliet andfor His strength to help her continue serving theLord and our community for many more years.

Sister Juliet was pleasantly surprised by the pres-ence of Robert Reeberg and Lila Richardson and bytheir unique gift. They dedicated a song to SisterJuliet that Robert Reeberg composed especially forSister Juliet.

Teachers from the different schools who workwith Sister Juliet were in attendance for the festiveoccasion. Teacher Pardo of Imelda Kleuterschoolwas there as well as teacher Gardio of Maria Col-lege, teacher Janga of St. Michael School,teacher Lilith Rasmijn of Sagrado Cura-zon, teacher Mariksa Lacle and teacherStella Tromp of Rosario College. Severalothers from the Department of Educationwas also in attendance to celebrate withSister Juliet.

Mr. Erick Rincones entertained theguests with his guitar and songs dedicatedto the Lord with everyone joining in andsinging along. “Let God give us thestrength to carry on. For us in the field ofteaching to be an example and to allow God

to continuedoing Hisw o r kthrough us,”were someof the ex-pressions toSister Juliet.

T h egroup savored delicious coffee from Smit and Dorlasand specially prepared delicious snacks in the beauti-fully decorated Coffee Shop in honor of Sister Juliet.

Sister Juliet celebrates 50thanniversary as a Nun

Sister Juliet

Robert Reeberg and Lila Richardson pre-senting the composition made espcially forSister Juliet

Wednesday, May 30, 2012 3

Petra Kok and Anouk Oost-hout, sales manager of TuiNederland and Editor ofReisrevue were recently inAruba to record an educa-tional video of Aruba. Thepurpose of the video will beto educate, and to win overmore travel agents workingfor Tui Nederland.

The video will be shownin all Tui Nederland sales of-fices with the cooperation ofATA Europe and Travel Mag-azine. Travel Magazine is thelargest employment maga-zine in Holland.

Tui Nederland operatesunder various umbrellas,such as Holland Internationaland Arke. Tui Nederland hasits own airline – Arkefly. This

Summer Arkefly will have atotal of 4 weekly flights toAruba. They offer their cus-tomers a large variety of ho-tels.

Among these hotels is theDivi Resorts where Petra andAnouk stayed during theirvisit to Aruba.

Aruba is an important des-tination for Tui Nederlandand has the largest portion ofthe Dutch market sellingpackages to vacation onAruba.

About 1500 registeredtravel offices in Holland offertravel through Tui Nederland,of which 130 of these officesbelong to Arke, with 60 ofthem operating as a franchiseof Holland International.

Every year Tui Nederlandsends travel agents to see theAruban product. For thosewho have already visitedAruba, the video will serve asa reminder of what Aruba hasto offer the visitor. Aruba isenjoyed as a luxury destina-tion offering “Sun, Sand andSea,” which are the three as-pects that the Dutch and Eu-ropean visitor craves.

The video to be producedshortly will illustrate andhighlight the tourism attrac-tions on Aruba and just abouteverything that Aruba has tooffer for every type of tourist.It will picture our beaches,our famous Fofoti tree andBaby Beach. There will be

scenes for weddings on thebeach, such as at Manchebo.There will also be scenes ofSpa and Joga on the beach.

The video will depict thededication to the environ-ment as supported by varioushotels,

such as Bucuti and TaraBeach Resorts. The turtle’snests will be a welcome fea-ture in the video.

The video will give atten-tion to our National Park,Parke Arikok, our golf courseat Tierra del Sol and at theDivi Links. Aruba ButterflyFarm and Aruba Aloe willnot be left out. Shopping onAruba in our famous shop-ping plazas, Renaissance and

Paseo Herencia and the othershopping malls at PalmBeach Plaza will be in focusas well.

In the video, Aruba’s fa-mous restaurants and ourown local creole Zeerover’sRestaurant where visitorslove to go and mingle withthe locals will be captured oncamera. Night life, of courseis not left out. And, a visit toCarubbian Festival in SanNicolaas was the icing on thecake. The video presents amini parade and happy peo-ple dancing at the rhythm ofa brass band in the streets ofSan Nicolaas.

The orchestration of thisvideo was done by represen-tatives of Aruba Tourism Au-thority, namely AmayraBoekhoudt, and Tui Neder-land, as well as Francis Rid-derstap of Divi All InclusiveResort. ATA expressed grati-tude for the support of herpartners in tourism who inone way or other cooperatedwith the filming and produc-tion of the video, and formaking the stay of the Dutchteam so pleasant and memo-rable.

Educational video of Aruba produced by biggestTour Operator in Holland

class this last semester. Dr.Ceccoli has been instrumentalin helping Jordan get ac-cepted to the graduate pro-grams of three of the highestregarded universities for In-ternational Studies: JohnsHopkins, George Washingtonand Georgetown.

After a brilliant career atRhodes, Jordan Harms, theautistic young man with adream has the luxury of hav-ing to choose among these re-spected universities! Hisparents Lionel Harms ofAruba and Amy Mitchell ofMill Vale, CA can be veryproud of the way their sonhas progressed.

Send your comments [email protected]

cause of Jordan’s very highgrades, he was appointed as amember of the Search forValues Advisory Councilmade up of students. In hisletter of recommendation, Dr.Andrew A. Michta also wroteof Jordan, “…a young mancommitted to traditional val-ues and a young man of in-tegrity…”. Undoubtedly, theSearch for Values Programhelped to mold this youngman.

Dr. Stephen Ceccoli, De-partment Chairman, Interna-tional Studies Programhelped to guide Jordan duringhis four years as a major inInternational Studies andthrough the “onerous” Inter-national Political Economy


Four years ago I wrote aboutthe autistic young man with adream going off to RhodesCollege in Memphis, TN. Atthat time I had not met Jordanpersonally, although I hadread most of the reports hehad written during his four

years as a high-school stu-dent. Earlier this month I hadthe pleasure of meeting Jor-dan and witnessing his grad-uation.

Jordan’s dream has notdied with his graduation. Onthe contrary, he is more com-mitted than ever to play a keyrole in the International Rela-

tions policymaking processin Washington in the future.His graduation from Rhodesis just one more step towardsrealizing his dream

In his letter recommend-ing Jordan as a candidate forthe highly prestigious Lint

Scholarship for National De-fense, Dr. Andrew A. Michta,the M. W. Buckman Distin-guished Professor of Interna-tional Studies writes ofJordan, “…a young man ofexceptional promise. His in-telligence and commitmentto a career in the field of in-telligence make him an ideal

candidate for the Scholar-ship… he has excellent lead-ership potential, withstudents routinely looking upto him …he is someone whois driven by genuine interestin international relations andnational security affairs, andas a result he reads constantlyon the subject…”

Jordan received the schol-arship as a sophomore.

In 2011 Jordan was in-ducted into the Sigma IotaRho (ΣΙΡ) National HonorSociety for InternationalStudies. Recognizing his ex-ceptional writing skills, theSociety appointed Jordan asAssociate Editor for the pub-lication of the Spring 2012edition of its Journal Of In-ternational Relations.

I had the honor of talkingto three professors who lefttheir mark on Jordan.

Dr. Valerie Nollan, De-partment of Modern Lan-guages and Literatures,taught Jordan Russian lan-guage and culture. As Dr.Nollan’s son is also autistic,she and her family becamegood friends with Jordan andhis family. Dr. Nollan is alsoa musician who has done anextensive research on the lifeof Sergei Rachmaninoff. Sheis considered an eminenceand is invited at other univer-sities to lecture on the sub-ject.

Dr. Kenny Morrell, De-partment Chairman, Greekand Roman Studies, is con-sidered the engine pushingthe compulsory two yearsSearch for Values program.This program exposes thestudents to the great booksand thinkers of the WesternCivilization. Dr.Morrell is aworld-renowned scholar inGreek and Roman studies,and travels to Greece often,giving his lectures via Skypewhen he is in Athens! Be-

Jordan Harms Graduates Cum Laude fromRhodes College

Jordan with Dr. Nollan and Mom Amy

Jordan with professors Morrell and Ceccoli

Jordan with Mom Amy and Dad Lionel


Recently, Aruba’s airportReina Beatrix got a visit fromstudents of InternationalSchool of Aruba (ISA). Thegoal of their visit was to getto know the airport and learnof all it the work takes andhow many different compa-nies are involved to make theairport function daily at a toplevel.

The students received in-

formation at the check-inbali, immigration, securityscreening point and they alsoenjoyed a tour in the airport’sshopping mall.

One of the highlights ofthe tour was when the stu-dents got a close up look andexplanation of DHL’s Cargoplane. Besides that Mr. Ale-jandro Muyale also give thestudents the opportunity to

visit one of the Tiara Air Boe-ing 737.

Students as well as teach-ers were very satisfied withthe airport tour and every-thing they learned.

At the end of the tourTiara Air and Aruba AirportAuthority presented a littlesouvenir to each student.

Photo depicts the studentsaccompanied by their teacher.

International School of Arubavisits Aruba’s Airport

(AFP)-- "I remember in col-lege listening to Bob Dylanand my world opening up,because he captured some-thing about this country thatwas so vital," Obama added.

The revered singer-songwriter was last at the WhiteHouse in February 2010,when he performed protestanthem "The Times, They area Changin'" nearly 50 yearsafter belting out songs of rev-olution on Washington's Na-tional Mall.

Obama also had warmwords for Albright, the firstwoman to serve as US secre-tary of state, during formerpresident Bill Clinton's sec-ond term.

"When Saddam Husseincalled her a 'snake,' she worea serpent on her lapel the nexttime she visited Baghdad,"Obama quipped in a refer-ence to the former top diplo-mat's penchant for sportingflamboyant broaches.”

"As the first woman toserve as America's top diplo-mat, Madeleine's courage andtoughness helped bring peaceto the Balkans and paved theway for progress in some ofthe most unstable corners of

the world."Obama lauded another fe-

male pioneer Toni Morrison,author of novels "Song ofSolomon" and "Beloved" forprose of a "kind of moral andemotional intensity that fewwriters ever attempt."

"She believes that lan-guage arcs toward the placewhere meaning might lie, andthe rest of us are lucky to befollowing along for the ride."

Obama also posthumouslyrecognized former Polish un-derground resistance officerJan Karski for his role in ex-posing the Holocaust after heprovided some of the firsteyewitness accounts from theWarsaw ghetto and a Nazitransit camp.

Also honored with thePresidential Medal of Free-dom on Tuesday were civilrights lawyer John Doar, epi-demiologist William Foege,labor organizer DoloresHuerta, retired SupremeCourt justice John PaulStevens, and woman's bas-ketball coach Pat Summitt.

Israel President ShimonPeres will be invested withthe Presidential Medal ofFreedom in a separate cere-mony.

Obama honors 'giant' Dylanwith top US honor Continued from pg 1

key issues such as abortion.They also accused Romney

of being the wrong candidateto challenge Obama on his his-toric health care reform,widely reviled by core conser-vatives, because as governor ofMassachusetts he implementedsimilar reforms that the WhiteHouse readily states formedthe basis for the Obama plan.

But the pugnacious andwell-funded Romney alwaysbounced back, unleashing furi-ous assaults on his challengerssuch as the one in Florida thathelped him trounce formerHouse speaker Gingrich, whohad alarmed the Romney cam-paign by winning the SouthCarolina primary the week be-fore.

In nominating a multimil-lionaire former businessman,the Republican Party is in fa-miliar territory, but in one keyrespect Romney is making his-tory, as the nation's first-ever

WASHINGTON (AFP) - MittRomney should clinch the Re-publican presidential nomina-tion today by winning theTexas primary, overcomingdoubts about his ideologicalpurity to become the party's2012 flag bearer after a bruis-ing battle.

Voters in the second mostpopulous US state cast theirballots today, with Romney theonly Republican still activelycampaigning for the nomina-tion to challenge PresidentBarack Obama in November.

An all-but-assured Texasvictory will secure him the1,144 delegates needed, cap-ping a long, rough-and-tumbleslog through dozens of stateprimaries and caucuses.

Rivals like Newt Gingrichand Rick Santorum humbledRomney by stealing some vic-tories, rallying voters to theirmore conservative agenda andhighlighting his flipflops on


Mormon nominee of a majorpolitical party.

Romney, 65, pivoted towardObama in his campaignspeeches and events more thana month ago, when it becameclear his long march towardthe nomination at the partyconvention in August wouldnot be stopped.

In Texas, 155 delegates areat stake. Romney's tally cur-rently stands at 1,064, accord-ing to the websiteRealClearPolitics, some 80 shyof the nomination threshold.

Polls show a steadily tight-ening White House race, withRepublicans coalescing behindRomney in the weeks sinceGingrich and Santorumdropped out of the race.

Poll aggregates showObama narrowly ahead. Thelatest RealClearPolitics aver-age shows the president with atwo-point lead, 45.6 to 43.6percent.

Romney looks to seal Republicannomination

International News

victims were, in some cases,robbed of their valuables.

German media havedubbed the man the "darkroommurderer" as one of the vic-tims was found dead in a roomfor discreet sexual encounters.

He was charged on Sunday-- before his confession -- onsuspicion of two counts ofmurder and one of attemptedmurder.

Shortly after the May 5 in-cident, he gave a 26-year-oldman a drink spiked with liquidecstasy in a train station, policesaid. Alert passers-by noticedhe was in difficulty, raised thealarm and he survived.

Police are investigatingpossible connections to othersuspicious deaths.

BERLIN (AFP) - A Germanman charged with murderingtwo men by poisoning themwith the "date rape" drug liq-uid ecstasy has confessed to athird killing, police said Tues-day.

The 37-year-old, who se-lected his victims mainly fromBerlin's gay scene, killed a 32-year-old man in a gay bar inthe early hours of May 5 withliquid ecstasy and a 34-year-old in his flat on April 26, po-lice said.

During the course of the in-vestigation, police said he hadadmitted to a third murder, ofa 41-year-old on May 16,again using the drug.

Police gave no motive forthe alleged murders but the

German charged with'date rape' drug serialmurders

adding it was done to boostclaims of success by the armyin operations against Colom-bia's rebel and militia move-ments.

"Such acts were supportedby the highest military offi-cials, who not only failed to ex-ercise their duty to monitor, butalso encouraged this behav-iour," the two organisationssaid.

ICC chief prosecutor LuisMoreno-Ocampo's office an-nounced in 2006 that a prelim-inary examination intoColombia's violent struggle be-tween its military, guerrillasand paramilitary forces hadbeen launched.

Its aim was to checkwhether a full-blown ICC in-vestigation was justified as aresult of Colombian courtsbeing unable or unwilling to trycrimes against humanity, warcrimes and genocide that mayhave been committed in theSouth American country.

THE HAGUE (AFP) - Rightsorganisations on Tuesdaycalled on the InternationalCriminal Court to probe extra-judicial killings in Colombia,saying citizens were killed bythe army and then passed-off asrebels.

The International Federa-tion of Human Rights as wellas the Colombia, Europe USCoordination "call on the ICCto open an investigation intocrimes against humanity inColombia" committed between2002 and 2008, they said in astatement issued in The Hague.

The two non-governmentalorganisations on Tuesday re-leased a report entitled:"Colombia: a war measured inlitres of blood" in which theyalleged the "systematic andwidespread" extra-judicial ex-ecutions of around 3,000Colombian civilians.

The victims were then "pre-sented as guerrillas killed incombat", the report said,

Rights bodies urge ICCto probe Colombiakillings

lice who said he had devouredalmost the entire face of hisvictim.

The unidentified homelessman, who also was naked dur-ing the attack, remains hospi-talized and fighting for his life.

"We are expecting a reportfrom our detectives to givemore details to the media. Weare also looking for more wit-nesses to this crime," a Miamipolice spokesman said. "Thevictim remains in critical con-dition."

The bloody spectacle un-folded mid-afternoon on Satur-day, when police were alertedby the public as the attack wasbeing carried out near Miami'sMacArthur Causeway.

Police ordered Eugene tostop the assault, then fatallyshot him when he continued tognaw at the face of his victim.

MIAMI (AFP) - The nude as-sailant who almost killed an-other man over the weekend bybiting his face off was identi-fied Tuesday by Miami police,who said they are still in thedark about what provoked thebizarre and savage attack.

The aggressor, Rudy Eu-gene, 31, was shot dead by po-

Television footage andnews photos have shown thetwo men sprawled on the side-walk side by side, with the vic-tim barely conscious andcovered in blood with up to 75percent of his face ripped off.

Police initially said the at-tack could have been provokeby an overdose of a powerfulnew form of LSD mixed alongwith "cocaine psychosis."

Reports however Tuesdaysuggested Eugene was likelyunder the influence of the syn-thetic stimulant "bath salts"made with the active agentmephedrone, which producesan often aggressive, chaoticexperience for users, coupledwith intense hallucinations.

Authorities hope that thevictim, if he survives, couldhelp explain what precipitatedthe grisly attack.

US police identify attacker whognawed off victim's face

into his church to save aMadonna statue.

In San Felice del Panaro,the dead were identified asItalian, Moroccan and Indianfactory workers. "I don't thinkwe are safe, the factory hascompletely collapsed," a fel-low Indian worker told AFP ashe called on Allah for help.

Pope Benedict XVI sent hiscondolences to the families ofthe victims.

Tuesday's quake was feltthroughout northern and cen-tral Italy, causing the the col-lapse of houses and schoolsstructures weakened by thequake nine days ago whichkilled six people and left thou-sands in makeshift tentdwellings,and sparking freshfear among already jittery cit-izens.

Around 7,000 people who

SAN FELICE SUL PANARO(AFP) - A strong earthquakeon Tuesday rocked northeast-ern Italy, killing at least 17people and wounding 200 justdays after another quake in thesame region wrought deathand destruction, while rescueforces were searching for fouror five other people still miss-ing

Historic chapels, churchesand buildings damaged in thefirst quake crumbled to theground as alarmed citizensjoined those already campingout in blue tent camps set up inparks and school playgroundsafter the last quake.

Several victims were work-ers crushed when factories col-lapsed, while a parish priest inthe town of Rovereto di Noviwas killed by a falling beam,reportedly after he went back


fled their homes in northeastItaly in the quake over a weekago are still living in around89 tent camps erected in fields,sports fields, car parks andschools, which can take up to9,000 people.

The region has been hit bya series of quakes and after-shocks over the past twoweeks. Authorities have regis-tered at least 800 tremors sinceMay 20.

Death toll rises in quake-struckItaly

International News

The couple repliedcalmly and briefly tothe questions of thecourt during a firstmorning hearingmainly given over tothe reading of thecharge sheet.

The mother, helpedby a translator becauseof a lack of French, re-peated what her hus-band, a former

witchdoctor, had told investi-gators, that "a woman came"to their house and carried outthe procedure in their absence.

"This custom persists be-cause girls who have not beencircumcised are socially ex-cluded" and cannot get mar-ried later on, a relative of thefamily told AFP outside thecourtroom.

Female circumcision is stillpractised as an ancestral cus-tom in parts of Africa despiteawareness campaigns and in-creasingly tough legislation.This mutilation consists in acomplete or partial cutting offof the clitoris and sometimesthe lips of the vagina. It isbanned in France.

A psychological expertisepresented in court on the twoyoungest girls concluded thatthey were totally submitted toparental authority and that"circumcision was a taboosubject in the family".

The evidence of the girls,who have said they remembernothing and never left France,was yet to come.

NEVERS (AFP) - A couple ofGuinean orgin went on trialhere Tuesday accused of car-rying out what France consid-ers genital mutilation on theirfour daughters, but someAfricans view as a traditionalpractice.

The parents, charged with"complicity in wilful vio-lence", face up to 20 years inprison, since the fact that theirdaughters were minors at thetime of the procedure knownas female circumcision wasconsidered an aggravating cir-cumstance.

They arrived in the Neverscourt in central France withtheir two eldest daughters,now adults, and were joinedlater by the two youngest,aged 11 and 13, who hadasked to return home after atemporary placement else-where.

The affair came to light in2005 when the mutilation ofthe eldest girl was discoveredin a Nevers hospital, whereshe was being operated on forappendicitis.

Guinean couple chargedin France for genitalmutilation

US top courtrefuses toreview Tasergun use bycopsWASHINGTON (AFP) - The

US Supreme Court on Tues-

day refused to review the use

of Taser stun guns by police

on two women, including one

who was seven months preg-

nant at the time.

In one of the cases,

Malaika Brooks was driving

her son to school in the north-

western city of Seattle in 2004

when she was stopped for

speeding. When she refused to

get out of her car because she

was just weeks away from

giving birth, police zapped her

three times.

In the other case, police

used a Taser gun on Jayzel

Mattos in her home in Hawaii

in 2006 when she tried to stop

the arrest of her husband.

In both cases, the women

argued that their constitutional

rights had been violated.At least 43 people have

died after being tased by po-lice, increasing the number ofdeaths in the United States to497 since 2001, the rightsgroup said in its annual report.


Health & Living

the Christian Democrats' par-liamentary group, stressed thedecision was voluntary andthat nobody would face anypressure over their decision.

Germany's 1,350 hospitalsthat are equipped with inten-sive care units would also haveto appoint an official to over-see possible organ donations.

The German Foundation forOrgan Transplants estimatesthat around 12,000 people arewaiting for an organ transplantin the country.

The issue of organ donationhas been particularly sensitivein Germany since 2010 whena former foreign minister andformer challenger to Chancel-lor Angela Merkel, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, donated akidney to his wife.

BERLIN (AFP) - Germanlawmakers adopted a bill yes-terday aimed at increasing thenumber of organ donors by al-lowing health insurance com-panies to regularly inquire iftheir patients are willing to be-come potential donors.

"We are saying to people,'every organ donor is someonewho saves a life'," Health Min-ister Daniel Bahr told MPs inthe lower house of the Germanparliament, the Bundestag.

With a wide majority, par-liamentarians agreed that allover-16 year-olds could beregularly contacted by theirhealth insurer by letter to askif they were willing to declarethemselves ready to donate anorgan after their death.

Volker Kauder, who heads

German MPs seek toraise number of organdonors

so," Deputy Minister DangVan Hieu said.

The health ministry, whichhas been given responsibilityfor selecting and importing thedrugs, said it was planning tobuy supplies from India, theUnited States or China, butwas still checking prices andquality.

Vietnam does not disclosethe number of executions itcarries out each year, but rightsgroup Amnesty Internationalrecorded five in 2011, with 23new sentences handed out thatyear, mainly to drug traffick-ers.

The campaign group hassaid changing one form of ex-ecution for another did not ad-dress the "inhumanity" of thepunishment and has called onVietnam to work towards abol-ishing the death penalty.

HANOI (AFP) - The execu-tion of more than 400 deathrow prisoners in Vietnam hasbeen held up for nearly a yearfollowing a decision to replacefiring squads with lethal injec-tions, state media said Tuesday.

Since dropping firing squadsin July last year in an effort tointroduce a "more humane"method of judicial killing,Vietnam has yet to decidewhich drugs to use to adminis-ter the fatal dose, triggering abacklog.

"We have more than 400prisoners sentenced to deathand we cannot execute them,"a senior official at the ministryof public security said, accord-ing to the Tuoi Tre newspaper.

"More than 100 of themhave completed all the finalformalities and should be exe-cuted but there is no drug to do

Vietnam executionsdelayed by lack ofdrugs

the western Balkans -- isAdria, a microplate that cov-ers the Adriatic Sea and isalso sliding beneath the Euro-pean plate.

On its website, the US Ge-ological Survey (USGS) saidAdria "greatly complicated"seismic activity in northernItaly, contributing to a com-pression of the northern endof the Apennine chain.

At least 15 people werekilled on Tuesday by tremorsmeasuring up to 5.8 magni-tude that struck a region eastof the city of Palma.

On May 20, a 6.0-magni-tude quake in the same regionkilled six people and reducedhomes and historic buildingsto rubble. It has been fol-lowed by hundreds oftremors.

Baptie said it was "entirelypossible" that the May 20earthquake had set off theMay 29 event.

"We know that when thereare large earthquakes, stressis transferred to other faultsystems and that in turn cantrigger an earthquake on thatfault as well." he said.

In May 2009, a 6.3-magni-tude quake devastated thecity of L'Aquila in centralItaly, killing some 300 peopleand leaving tens of thousandshomeless.

LOS ANGELES - Massive bluefin tuna have carried lowlevels of nuclear radiation from the tsunami-damagedFukushima power plant redioactive contaminationacross 6,000 miles of the Pacific Ocean to the Californiashores. Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134were detected in 15 tuna caught near San Diego in Au-gust 2011, scientists reported on Monday. The amountof radioactive cesium in the fish is not thought to bedamaging to people if consumed, the researchers saidin a study published in the journal Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences.


LYON (AFP) - Global policeagency Interpol Tuesdaylaunched a website to educateteenagers about crimes thatcan be committed over the In-ternet and tell them how theycan protect themselves fromthe dangers.

"Every day, Interpol workswith police around the worldto fight all types of crime, andwe have seen the increasingdangers posed to the public,and especially young people,through crimes committed viathe Internet," said RoraimaAndriani, a senior agency offi-cial who oversaw the project.

"Interpol's new educationalwebsite enables us to share theknowledge and expertise wehave developed with ourmember countries to help chil-

dren become better informedon how to protect themselves,"she said.

The new website also aimsto teach teenagers about the190-country-member organi-sation that is based in thisFrench city in the foothills ofthe Alps.

A focal point of the new siteis a game "Interpol Junior Of-ficer -- the Case of the BlackTattoo," in which players as-sume the role of an Interpol of-ficer who travels worldwide,gathering clues to help localpolice track down an interna-tional gang involved in smug-gling.

The website was launchedin English and will eventuallyhave Arabic, French and Span-ish versions.

Teenagers play detectiveson Interpol's new website

PARIS (AFP) - Two killerearthquakes that struck north-eastern Italy in nine dayshave shed light on the brutalbut complex seismic forcesthat grip the Italian peninsula,scientists say.

Brian Baptie, a seismolo-gist with the British Geologi-cal Survey (BGS), said theworst earthquakes in Italy oc-curred in the south of thecountry, which lies close towhere one of Earth's tectonicplates is sliding under an-other.

Farther north, earthquakesmay be triggered by colli-sions in the south or by com-plex faults running throughthe Apennines, the mountain-ous "spine" of Italy, he ex-plained.

"Southern Italy sits at aplate boundary. The bound-ary between the African plate

and the Eurasian plate runsthrough the MediterraneanSea just south of Italy," Bap-tie said in a phone interviewfrom Edinburgh.

"The African plate is beingsubducted under the Euro-pean plate, so that's why youget volcanoes like Etna andVesuvius in southern Italyand why you get biggerearthquakes down there.

"Further north into Italy,earthquakes are still causedby that collision, but there arealso more complicated thingsgoing on as well.

"You get the Apenninemountains running down thenorth-south axis of Italy,there are fault systems thatrun all the way through thosemountains and they generateearthquake activity as well."

The big mischief-maker innorthern Italy -- and also in

Double quake highlights Italy'sseismic perils

Sci-Tech


MAY 26 - JUNE 02

O’stad :’ Botica Centraal N.V.’ - S.N : ‘ ALOE N.V.’

FREE Coverage on our website:

www.themorningnewsaruba.com


Finance

YESTERDAY’S

Crossword Answer

NEW YORK (AFP) - USstocks rose more than onepercent Tuesday helped byhopes that China will launcha stimulus program and signsGreece's elections might pushthrough a euro-friendly gov-ernment.

But Facebook sharesheaded in the opposite direc-tion again, dropping nearly10 percent to $28.84, farbelow the $38 IPO price ofMay 18.

At the close of trade theDow was up 125.86 points(1.01 percent) to 12,580.69.

The S&P 500 indexgained 14.60 (1.11 percent)to 1,332.42, while the Nasdaqadded 33.46 (1.18 percent) to2,870.99.

"Sentiment was strength-ened... amid speculation offurther stimulus in the formof increased spending byChina, and encouraging com-ments from political leadersin Greece pertaining to theirinterest in maintaining theircountry's membership in the

euro," said Briefing.com.Bank of America led the

Dow blue chips higher with a4.1 percent gain, followed byChina-sensitive Caterpillar,up 2.9 percent, and Alcoa, 3.0percent.

Chesapeake Energyjumped 3.4 percent on thenews late Friday that corpo-rate raider Carl Icahn hadbuilt a 7.6 percent stake in thecompany and signaled hewould try to shake up the nat-ural gas giant's board.

On the Nasdaq, bothApple and Microsoft gained1.7 percent, while the newestbig tech counter, Facebook,sank again, bringing its losson the IPO price to 24 per-cent.

So far eight class-actionlawsuits have been lodgedagainst the company in dis-trict courts in New York andCalifornia alleging thatsmaller investors were deniedinformation that would havedarkened their views of thecompany in the days before

the listing.In afterhours trade shares

in Blackberry maker Re-search In Motion sank nearly11 percent from its closingprice of $11.23 after itwarned that it could report aloss in the current quarter.

The company also said ithad hired JP Morgan Securi-ties and RBC Capital Marketsto study its strategic options.

Bond prices edged higherwith the dollar's gains againstthe euro. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to1.73 percent from 1.75 per-cent late Friday, while the 30-year fell held at 2.84 percentfrom 2.85 percent.

Bond prices and yieldsmove in opposite directions.

US stocks add 1% but Facebookplunges

NEW YORK (AFP) - Theeuro tumbled Tuesday onfears that debt-plagued Spaincould be forced to seek a

bailout and as sovereign bor-rowing rates spiked close todanger levels.

The European single cur-rency plummeted to $1.2488,down 0.4 percent from Mon-day evening.

Investors watched asSpanish bonds neared theseven-percent yield mark, "alevel that is considered abreaking point at whichSpain will need to revert tointernational financial help,"according to Anita Paluch atGekko Global Markets.

"It's actually somethingwe have seen back in thedays when Greece, Irelandand Portugal had to be bailedout," Paluch said.

Spanish banks are at theheart of the renewed crisis,with the government forcedto step in and save Bankiafrom bad mortgage bets.

That has only added to theweight of debt that the Span-ish state labors under.

The dollar rose 0.05 per-cent to 79.52 yen.

The pound fell to $1.5637,down 0.3 percent.

The dollar rose almost 0.4percent against the Swissfranc to 0.9618 francs.

Spanish bailout speculationfuels euro's fall

NEW YORK (AFP) - Oilprices fell Tuesday on Spain'sdebt and banking woes, whilelosses were capped by theprospect of a disruption toMiddle East supplies causedby tensions over Iran, traderssaid.

New York's main contract,West Texas Intermediatecrude for delivery in Julydropped 10 cents at $90.76 abarrel.

Brent North Sea crude forJuly shed 43 cents to $106.68in late London deals.

Markets are increasinglyworried that Spain -- the eu-rozone's fourth largest econ-omy -- could follow Greece,Ireland and Portugal in ask-ing for a massive interna-tional bailout. This in turn islikely to weigh on crude de-mand.

Investors were also keep-ing close watch on the situa-tion in Iran, after the Islamicrepublic and Western powersfailed to reach an agreementon Tehran's nuclear program,which is believed linked to anuclear weapons push.

Despite the offer of incen-tives by the West, Tehran hasrefused to suspend enrich-

ment of uranium to 20 per-cent, insisting that it has theright to do so for peacefulpurposes.

Iran has threatened to dis-rupt Middle East oil suppliesif it is slapped with furthersanctions by the West, whileits arch-enemy Israel has notruled out launching a pre-emptive strike on its nuclearfacilities.

Oil prices fall on Spain concerns

NEW YORK (AFP) -Lawyers are slowly clawingback some of the billions ofdollars that victims lost in theMadoff ponzi scheme -- butso far most of the money hasgone into their own pockets.

The operations led by liq-uidator Irving Picard, theNew York attorney in chargeof recovering the huge sumscheated by now-jailed WallStreet high-flyer Bernie Mad-off are burning up the cash al-most as fast as they canrecover it, a new report on hiswebsite showed Tuesday.

In the more than threeyears since Madoff's massivepyramid fund collapsed, withinvestor real losses around$17.3 billion, the lawyershave burned up $554 million,while returning only $330million to victims.

Picard himself, with his

hourly fee put by the NewYork Times at $850 an hour,has pulled in $5.1 millionfrom the work.

The whole team oflawyers has eaten up $300million, while specialistsconsultants have earned $220million.

The lawyers have beentracking down the claims ofthousands of investors wholost money on Madoff, whofor decades convinced hun-dreds of investors that he wasracking up huge profits withtheir savings.

So far they have recoveredor reached deals to recover$9.13 billion, but most of thatremains locked up in courtprocedures and challenges.

Madoff, a charismaticmogul and once chairman ofthe Nasdaq stock exchange,fooled charities, major banks,Hollywood moguls andsavvy financial players, inbuilding up the alleged in-vestment operation that manyfought to take part in.

Based on the fake profitreports they had receivedfrom Madoff's investmentfund operations, victimsclaimed some $65 billion inlosses after the business col-lapsed in December 2008.

But there was little moneyleft when he was arrested forfinancial fraud.

Lawyers making out the most inMadoff case

U.S.A.

Dutch Antilles

Canada

Britiain

Switzerland

Netherlands

Sweden

Denmark

Norway

Japan

(per 10,000)

USD

ANG

CAD

GBP

CHF

EUR

SEK

DKK

NOK

JPY

1.77

0.98

1.720

2.720

1.8545

2.2102

0.2382

0.2905

0.2869

221.82

1.78

1.00

1.740

2.770

1.8617

2.2304

0.2454

0.2977

0.2941

233.85

1.80

1.002

1.760

2.830

1.8697

2.2528

0.2534

0.3057

0.3021

226.10

Currency

Code

Buyingrate

banknotes

Buying

ChequesSelling

Rate

Current as of:

05/29/2012

All rates for amounts up to AWG 100,000.00 per item.

He returned to Qunu afterstaying temporarily in his res-idence in the leafy Johannes-burg suburb.

"Over the past few monthsformer president Mandela'sQunu house was being refur-bished, and as a result he re-located to his Houghtonhome during that period,"Maharaj had said.

Revered as the symbol ofSouth Africa's post-apartheidreconciliation, Mandela wasbriefly hospitalised in Febru-ary, stoking fears over hishealth.

Now 93, his last public ap-pearance was at the final ofthe 2010 World Cup in SouthAfrica.

Mandela was releasedfrom 27 years in prison in1990 and was elected SouthAfrica's first black presidentfour years later. He won theNobel Peace Prize in 1993and served one term beforestepping down in 1999.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) -Nelson Mandela arrivedTuesday at his residence inhis childhood village of Qunuafter spending severalmonths at his Johannesburghome, the South Africanpresidency said.

"The Presidency is pleasedto confirm that former presi-dent Nelson Mandela has ...arrived at his home in Qunu,"said presidential spokesmanMac Maharaj in a statement.

The anti-apartheid iconand elder statesman grew upin the picturesque village inthe rural Eastern Capeprovince, where his hilltophouse, with a round-the-clockpolice guard, stands outamong many nondescript tra-ditional huts dotting thecountryside.

Mandela often entertainedguests including globalcelebrities and heads of stateduring private birthday par-ties at this rural abode.


Mandela returns to childhood village

LONDON (AFP) - Britain'sPrince William said his wed-ding day last year was the onemoment above all that hewished his mother Diana couldhave witnessed.

In an interview with USbroadcaster ABC News,William said it was "very sad"that Diana, princess of Waleswho died in a car crash in Parisin 1997, could not be there tosee him tie the knot with hisuniversity sweetheart KateMiddleton.

His brother Prince Harry,who was William's best manfor the ceremony at London'sWestminster Abbey, said theirmother probably had the "bestseat in the house" at the serv-ice.

Asked if he missed hismother on his wedding day lastApril, William, 29, replied: "Itwas very difficult.

"I was sort of mentally pre-pared so I didn't want any wob-bly lips or anything going on.

"It's the one time since she'sdied, where I've thought to my-self it would be fantastic if shewas here.

"And just how sad really forher, more than anything, notbeing able to see it. Because Ithink she would have loved theday and I think, hopefully,she'd be very proud of us bothfor the day.

"I'm just very sad that she'snever going to get a chance tomeet Kate."

William gave his bride-to-bethe same sapphire and diamondengagement ring that hismother had.

The wedding ceremony wasconducted a few steps fromwhere Diana's coffin lay for herfuneral.

Though Harry appeared atease during the wedding,watched by billions around theworld on television, he admit-ted to being "massively nerv-ous".

"Everybody was nervous.And the whole thing was a bitof a blur to be honest, because,there was God knows howmany millions or billions ofeyes focused on us," the 27-year-old said.

Asked if it was difficult nothaving Diana with them, hereplied: "Of course it was."

He added: "I think shehad...the best seat in the houseprobably, but, yeah she wouldhave loved to have been there."

Princes'heartache at royalweddingwithoutDiana

A general view of Nelson Mandela's house, in the villageof Qunu, where the former South African President grewup and has returned for his retirement.

The 5.8 quake whichstruck Tuesday morningand the series oftremors of other 5.0magnitude that fol-lowed "will bring theregional economy to itsknees," Corsini said,adding that 200 busi-nesses in the sectorwere affected.

The north of theModena region, where

the quake was felt particularlystrongly, is home to dozens ofbalsamic vinegar producers.The consortium said some pro-ducers claimed to have lostover 100,000 litres of thecostly delicacy.

The gourmet vinegar, sprin-kled on salads and added tosauces the world over, can costup to 1,500 euros a litre.

The Emilia Romagna re-gion has some of Italy's richestfarmland and is known formany delicacies including bal-samic vinegar, Parmesan,Parma ham and Bolognesesauce, which are exportedaround the world.

Culinary production in thearea suffered a heavy blow just10 days ago when a 6.0 quakestruck the same region, devas-tating Parmesan warehousesand costing the industry an es-timated 200 million euros($286 million).

ROME (AFP) - The strongquake which struck Italy onTuesday, killing 15 and de-stroying buildings, has alsodealt a blow to Modena's bal-samic vinegar industry -- daysafter a quake in the area hitParmesan production.

The industry has sufferedlosses totalling 15 millioneuros ($18 million), accordingto the head of the traditionalbalsamic vinegar consortiumEnrico Corsini, who saidstocks had been "seriouslydamaged" as tremors hit thearea.

The Pontirol companybased in San Felice sul Panaro-- one of the worst-hit towns -- lost practically everythingafter its warehouses were flat-tened, while smaller ware-houses owned by otherproducers were also badlydamaged.

Earthquake hits Italy's balsamic vinegar producers


and drop-off; they even boasta shopping service to stockyour shelves before arrival.

Gold Coast accommoda-tions are elegant and spa-cious, offering privacy forparents or a few couples.

Beautifully appointedkitchens and bathrooms graceeach abode; barbecues andlounges are provided forfriendly cookouts and trulysavoring the island life. Allhomes come with cable TV,

high-speed fiber-optic Inter-net connection, individualwasher/dryer, and are fullyair-conditioned. Cribs, highchairs and hair dryers areavailable for a modest fee.Concierge ser vices to arrange

rental cars, spa appointments,activities and restaurant reser-vations are all part of thepackage.

Check-in for your holidayescape is conducted in thecomfort of your vacationhome, not while waiting online at check-in desk. In everyway, Gold Coast seeks topamper their guests whileproviding them with the feel-ing of being in a cozy com-munity, not the normallybustling resort, particularlyexperienced during the majorholidays. If you wish an opti-mal vacation experience withgreat savings, visit their web-site: www.goldcoastaruba.com to get acquainted withthe community and the lay-out, details and availability ofaccommodations, or call 586-2200 to talk personally to aGold Coast representative.

Aruba’s newest and most in-novative gated communityhas enjoyed steady sales sincebreaking ground, as many arefinding the secure surround-ings and outstanding ameni-ties are just what they werelooking for before conside -ring purchasing property onthe island. Some owners areusing the villas or townhomes as vacation retreatsrather than full time and aretaking advantage of GoldCoast’s rental services to turntheir investment into ready in-come.

“The greater portion ofhome owners are using their“home away from home” inAruba to escape the wintermonths, or spend holidayswith the family on the is-land,” noted Gold Coast de-veloper Fito Croes. To assistin the demand for more com-plete facilities for groupsand fa mi- lies, famed hote-lier Ed Ma-lone has beenplaced in charge of the rentalprogram.

Staying at Gold Coast is avery attractive proposition forthose traveling with groupsthat would require multiplehotel rooms. Two and threebedroom Villas or TownHomes accommodate largenumbers and offer extensiveamenities along with a finalcost resulting in considerablesavings. The community isminutes to the best beachesand all the casino action, andoffers a quiet and secludedgetaway with two swimmingpools and specialized serviceswith more on the way, such asa fitness room, tennis courtsand mini-mall. Ed canarrange maid service, babysit-ters, caterers, airline pick-up

Gold Coast Aruba:Great savings for large familieson holiday rentals

THE MORNING NEWStaste-testing team had a very,very pleasant surprise whenstopping by the newlyrechristened Scabeche, lo-cated in the Caribbean PalmVillas Resort. Veteran visitorswill be pleased to becomereacquainted with Anky, whothey will recognise from heryears with Aruba’s top gour-met eatery, Chez Mathilde,but has now realized herlong-time dream of welcom-ing and befriending patronsin her own charming venue.

Anky has completely re-modeled the lovely space

within the resort, which isjust a short walk from thePalm Beach resort area, tocreate a delightful ambianceand menu reflecting her greatenthusiasm for fine food andquality service. Open forbreakfast, lunch and dinner,after only one year they arereceiving rave reviews underthe original name, CaribbeanPalm Restaurant. Sca-becheis homage to the unique re-gional cooking which is theirspecialty, native to Peru andother Latin countries, butwith a distinctly Caribbeanflavor.

We absolutely must raveabout their signature dish,Catch of the Day Escabeche,moist and fresh; we hadgrouper in a singular saucethat has us ready to go backASAP for another helping.We also sampled the Shrimpand Scallops appetizer andthe Ceviche Aruban Style, as

well as the Fruitti di Mare enCasserole, and recommendeach of them highly.Scabeche is heaven forseafood lovers, but landlub-bers will also be extremelypleased with the TenderloinTika, a HUGE steak skewerwith loads of fresh vegeta-bles.

Aside from their ex-tremely pleasing and afford-able regular menu, eachnight features some distinc-tive specialty. Monday isITALIAN NIGHT includinga free Caesar salad, Tues-day is HAPPY HOUR & 2

DOLLAR BEER START-ING AT 6PM , Wednesdayis All You Can Eat BBQRibs for only $19.95 andThursday is THEIR SPEC-TACULAR CARNIVALDINNER & SHOW (reser-vation required) and on Fri-days a FARAWELLKARAOKE PARTY(50',60',70 music) withTAPAS MENU.

Scabeche is a welcomeaddition to the Palm Beachroster of restaurants and def-initely deserves discovering.Diners will love the tranquilsetting, excellent andfriendly service, along witha very reasonably pricedmenu featuring several dis-tinctive and delectabledishes. They also feature 2for 1 Happy Hours 3 times aday from noon to 1 p.m., 3to 5 p.m. and 9 to 10 p.m.,tempting you to linger overa liqueur after your dinner.

Regional gourmet diningis highly affordable at

Scabeche

Fresh Grouper in Scabeche Sauce

Steak Tika

ficult group, the group ofdeath, and our priority first ofall is to get through the firstphase.

"We have fallen amongGermany, the Netherlands andDenmark, who beat us in thequalifying group (leaving Por-tugal to come through theplay-offs), but I have a reason-able hope that we will qualifyfrom the group.

"We are not favourites, andso much the better for that."

They start their campaignproper in Group B againstEuro 2008 finalists Germanyon June 9 in Lviv, Ukraine,followed by 1992 championsDenmark on June 13, also inLviv, and round it off against1988 champions Holland onJune 17 in Kharkiv.

from lifting the La Liga titlewith Real Madrid - couldn't re-ally see too many surprises onthe horizon at Euro where hisside faces a tough battle toprogress from their group.

The Portuguese - whoreached the final in 2004 whenthey hosted it and the quarter-finals last time out - have beendrawn with three formerchampions in Germany, theNetherlands and Denmark.

"I don't think that in thisEuro there will be a lot of sur-prises," said Ronaldo, who hasoften been criticised for not re-peating his club form for hiscountry.

"Spain are really strong andbehind them there are difficultsides to play.

"We realise we are in a dif-

ahead of the championships,given UEFA's publicly statedpolicy of zero tolerance toracism."

The families of two blackEngland players -- AlexOxlade-Chamberlain and TheoWalcott -- have said theywould not risk going toUkraine to watch England'smatches following publicwarnings from the British gov-ernment.

The foreign ministries ofDenmark and France have alsoissued similar advice to visitorsabout the risk of racist attacks.

In an apparent bid to pre-empt football-related violence,police in Poland on Mondayarrested 42 people -- includingprominent members of footballhooligan gangs -- suspected ofbeing involved in drug traffick-ing and extortion.

Since the fall of the IronCurtain two decades ago, thefar-right has found fertileground among fan gangs inEastern Europe's football stadi-ums.

Monitors from the UEFA-backed Football AgainstRacism in Europe (FARE) net-work have recorded dozens ofshocking far-right slogans atUkrainian league matches andplan to deploy at Euro 2012games.

But they said that the Euro2012 spotlight has helpedtackle the issue.

UEFA said it was confidentthat Ukraine can ensure thesafety of the 800,000 foreignfans expected at the tournament,which kicks off on June 8.

were unfair and had "nothingto do with reality", adding thatinstances of xenophobia andracism in stadiums were "aproblem specific to the wholeof Europe and not only toPoland".

The Polish foreign ministrymeanwhile said that it will askthe BBC for a correction forbroadcasting "unjust opinionsthat it will be dangerous inPoland during the Euro 2012championship".

In Ukraine, Euro 2012 or-ganising committee chiefMarkiyan Lubyivskyi admittedthey were "hurt" and baffled bythe claims, although Campbellwas entitled to his view buturged more balanced reporting.

A BBC spokesman said theyhad filmed openly at a numberof matches "and at every onerecorded incidents of racismand/or violence including thevicious assault on Asian stu-dents at a stadium in Ukrainewhich will host Euro 2012games".

He added: "It was in thepublic interest to highlight thebehaviour of some Polish andUkrainian football supporters

KIEV (AFP) - An outragedUkraine on Tuesday hit back atthe British media, current andformer footballers for urgingfans to stay away from nextmonth's Euro 2012 tournamentover fears of racism and vio-lence in the ex-Soviet state.

The foreign ministry in Kievaccused England of inventingthe term "skinheads" and saidit had also witnessed attacks onethnic minorities, after theBBC claimed in a documen-tary that far-right gangs wererife in Polish and Ukrainianfootball.

The angry response sug-gested a growing frustrationwith how the tournament isturning out for a country thathad hoped to use it as a glitter-ing showcase of its post-Sovietdevelopment.

Ukraine is already facing apotential boycott by top Euro-pean Union leaders over the al-leged mistreatment of theopposition leader and formerprime minister Yulia Ty-moshenko, who is in jail onwhat critics say are trumped-upcorruption charges.

"This is not the first timethat countries such as Ukraine,Poland, Romania and theCzech Republic are accused byWestern Europe of failing tolive up to some sort of stan-dards of respect for ethnic, sex-ual and other minorities aidministry spokesman OlegVoloshyn.

"We do not have inter-ethnicviolence on our streets -- some-thing that happened a fewyears ago in Paris or whichhappened in London itself lastyear," he added, referring to therioting that rocked the Britishcapital.

His comments come afterex-England captain Sol Camp-bell, who is black, warned fansto "stay home, watch it (thetournament) on TV... don'teven risk it" after viewingfootage of Polish and Ukrain-ian fans making Nazi salutesand monkey chants.

In Poland, organisersPL.2012 said the warnings


Euro 2012 organisers hitback over racism fears

MADRID (AFP) - Portuguesestar Cristiano Ronaldo playeddown hopes of his side liftingthe European Championshiptitle on July 1 on Tuesday say-ing he just hoped they couldreach the knockout stages.

The 27-year-old - fresh

No Euro surprises according to Ronaldo

away.Cremona public prosecutor

Stefano Di Martino told anews conference that no othernational team players were in-volved and that Criscito could"calmly go to the Euros", as hewas merely helping policewith the investigation.

His alleged involvement re-lates to a meeting he had inMay last year, when playingfor Genoa, with two of theclubs "ultra" fans, then team-mate Giuseppe Sculli and aBosnian with a criminalrecord.

The Calcioscommesse af-fair is believed to involve agroup of Hungarians, a groupof "Zingari" -- Gypsies in Italy-- and the heads of the crimesyndicate in Singapore.

Criscito, 25, who plays forZenit St Petersburg in Russia,has largely been the first-choice left-back under Pran-delli.

ROME (AFP) - DomenicoCriscito will not be part ofItaly's Euro 2012 squad fol-lowing his implication in the"Calcioscommesse" match-fixing scandal, Italian footballfederation vice-presidentDemetrio Albertiniannounced.

Criscito was handed a no-tice of indictment in a dawnraid on Monday in which hishotel room at Italy's pre-Eurobase near Florence wassearched by police.

"It was a decision shared byPrandelli and the federation,"said Albertini. "He (Criscito)is disappointed about therepercussions on the nationalteam and the dressing room.

"He explained certainthings to me and I believe hisversion and in his innocence."

In a series of co-ordinatedraids, 19 people were held bypolice following an investiga-tion into illegal betting by theCremona public prosecutor.

Of those, 14 were arrested,three were held under housearrest and two more ordered topresent themselves to police.

Lazio captain StefanoMauri and Padova midfielderOmar Milanetto, formerly ofGenoa, were amongst those ar-rested.

Juventus coach AntonioConte was submitted to ahome search, as was Chievocaptain Sergio Pellissier.

But the main drama was atItaly's Coverciano base, justoutside Florence, where policeswooped at 6:35 am

Criscito's room wassearched, although it is be-lieved nothing was taken

Criscito out of Italy squadafter police search

PariS (afP) - Serena Williams crashed to the worst GrandSlam defeat of her career on tuesday when she slumpedto a dramatic and thrilling 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 french openloss to france's world 111 virginie razzano. it was the 30-year-old american's first ever exit at the opening roundstage of her 47-event Grand Slam career and her earliestloss at a major since she was knocked out of the aus-tralian open second round by sister venus in 1998. on anight of unbearable tension on Philippe chatrier court,Williams saved seven match points in the ninth game ofthe nerve-jangling decider. "i'm disappointed, but that'slife, things could be worse," said 13-time Grand Slam win-ner Williams, who missed last year's roland Garros as shebattled life-threatening blood clots in her lungs. "i've beenthrough so much in my life. i'm not sitting here happy. i'vegotta figure out what i did wrong and not do it again. ifought until the end."

76ers on Saturday night.The Heat out-rebounded the

Celtics 48-33, and blocked 11Boston shots.

Rajon Rondo, whose triple-double led the Celtics in gameseven against the Sixers, fin-ished with 16 points, nine re-bounds and seven assists.

Paul Pierce scored 12points, connecting on just fiveof 18 shots from the floor.

The Celtics started firing inthe second quarter, battlingback from an 11-point deficitto tie the score at halftime.

But the Heat, led by NBAMost Valuable Player Jamesand Wade, inexorably pulledaway in the third.

James became the firstplayer to score at least 30points against the Celtics thispost-season, but he, too, saidthe Heat have plenty of roomfor improvement.

The Celtics will certainlyhave to get better.

After scoring just 11 pointsin the first quarter they ex-ploded for 35 in the second.But they were held to 15 in thethird -- when they shot just 27percent -- and coach DocRivers said they could not af-ford the "lulls".

The Heat, who won threestraight games to completetheir six-game second-roundtriumph over the Indiana Pac-ers on Thursday, are in theconference finals for the sec-ond straight year.

Last year they triumphedover Chicago to win the Easttitle before falling to Dallas inthe NBA Finals.

where they will play eitherOklahoma City or San Anto-nio.

Shane Battier scored 10points, Mario Chalmers hadnine and Mike Miller finishedwith eight as the Heat againcoped admirably without starforward Chris Bosh.

Bosh remained remainedsidelined with a strained ab-dominal muscle, and Heatcoach Erik Spoelstra said therewas no timetable for his return.

Kevin Garnett scored 23points and added 10 reboundsfor Boston, but the Celticslooked a step slow most of thenight after wrapping up aseven-game second-round vic-tory over the Philadelphia

MIAMI (AFP) - LeBronJames poured in 32 points andpulled down 13 rebounds onMonday as the Miami Heatdrew first blood in the NBAEastern Conference Finalswith a 93-79 victory over theBoston Celtics.

Dwyane Wade added 22points and seven assists for theHeat, who never trailed andled by as many as 17.

Miami host game two onTuesday, with the winners ofthe best-of-seven series ad-vancing to the NBA Finals


NBA: James scores 32 asHeat burn Celtics in opener

BaLtiMore

taMPa

yankeeS

toronto

BoSton

cLeveLand

chicaGo

detroit

kanSaS

MinneSota

W L Pct GB29 20 .592 --

29 20 .592 --

26 22 .542 2.5

25 24 .510 4.0

24 24 .500 4.5

27 21 .562 --

27 22 .551 0.5

23 25 .479 4.0

19 28 .404 7.5

16 32 .333 11.0

31 18 .633 --

25 25 .500 6.5

22 27 .449 9.0

21 30 .412 11.0

29 19 .604 --

27 22 .551 2.5

27 22 .551 2.5

26 24 .520 4.0

26 24 .520 4.0

27 21 .562 --

27 22 .551 0.5

24 24 .500 3.0

22 27 .449 5.5

20 28 .417 7.0

17 32 .347 10.5

32 16 .667 --

26 23 .531 6.5

22 27 .449 10.5

19 29 .396 13.0

17 34 .333 16.5

american League

east

central

texaS

La anGeLeS

oakLand

SeattLe

West

national League

WaShinGton

ny MetS

MiaMi

atLanta

PhiLadeLPhia

cincinnati

St. LouiS

PittSBurG

houSton

MiLWaukee

chicaGo

east

central

La dodGerS

San franciSco

arizona

coLorado

San dieGo

West

MLB Standings

x-Clinched Playoff Spot; y-Division Champ

W L Pct GB

W

W

W

W

L L

LL

Pct

Pct

Pct

Pct

GB GB

GBGB

owns a career record of 41-2,

with 27 knockouts.

He won his first welter-

weight title with a decision

over Antonio Margarito in July

of 2007. In his first defence in

February of 2008 he was upset

by Carlos Quintana, but re-

bounded to win their rematch

four months later and regain

the title.

He is also a former interim

junior middleweight world

champion, and notched a ma-

jority decision in a non-title

bout over Sergio Martinez,

who went on to win a mid-

dleweight crown.

"Canelo" Alvarez, Mexico's

rising star, on September 15 in

Las Vegas.

The respected Williams

Paul Williams, the always ex-

citing, ever-smiling boxer

known as "The Punisher," a

two-time welterweight boxing

world champion, is paralyzed

from the waist down after a

motorcycle accident in which

his spinal cord was 90 percent

severed.

Williams, 30, was involved

in the crash on Sunday in Ma-

rietta, Ga., where he was sup-

posed to attend his brother's

wedding that afternoon.

The accident comes just a

week after it was announced

that Williams would challenge

World Boxing Council welter-

weight world champion Saul


Johnny Tapia, famous Ameri-can five-time world boxingchampion from Albuquerque,New Mexico,whose turbulentcareer was marked by cocaineaddiction, alcohol, depressionand run-ins with the law wasfound dead in his home onSunday. He was 45.

Besides his exceptionalperformance in his sport, hewas also known for a troubledlife, which was also a sourceof motivation and inspirationfor many people

Tapia won five champi-onships in three weightclasses, winning the WBAbantamweight title, the IBFand WBO junior ban-

tamweight titles and the IBFfeatherweight belt.

He was regarded as theconsummate underdog by hisfans. The more trouble hefound outside the ring - includ-ing several stints in jail - themore they rallied around him.

Tapia was banned fromboxing for 3 1/2 years in theearly 1990s because of his co-caine addiction. But heknocked out Henry Martinezto win the WBO ban-tamweight title in 1994, andwon four more championshipsover the next eight years.

He last fought in June 2011,outpointing Mauricio Pastranain an eight-round decision. Hefinished with a 59-5-2 record.

Johnny Tapia, founddead in home

Boxer Paul Williams paralyzedin motorcycle crash

Documents

May 30, 2012